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doesn't just look like this, it looks like this where americans can see democracy at work. where citizens are truly infirmed -- informed. c-span, unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. it the opinion that matters the most is your own. this is what democracy looks like. c-span, powered by cable. washington journal continues. host: we continue our discussion on legislation impacting lgbtq americans with matt sharp from alliance defending freedom. we've been around for 25 years. the nations leading organization defending religious liberty,

life, free speech and a lot of the cases we are talking about today. we represent women's to lose out on opportunities because of policies that allow biological males to take away those privileges. our goal is to protect the free speech rights of every american recognizing how some of these rights are under attack from some of these policies with gender ideology being pushed. host: we want to talk about a case we may hear about here in washington from the supreme court perhaps very soon. the case of lori smith. he was lori smith? guest: she is the owner of 303

creative, a graphic design company and she serves people from all walks of life. unfortunately, because of a colorado state log, she has been compelled to create messages and website that celebrate events that violate her personal marriage beliefs. like we saw several years ago with jack phillips, laurie smith is subject to the same law and they are looking to see if colorado can violate her's free speech rights and force her to speak a message that violates their conviction and beliefs. host: what is you take away from the argument of this case and when do you expect to get a result from the supreme court? guest: we were encouraged by the court to take this case. the court of appeals ruled against it. the fact that the supreme court took this case and was very

focused on the infringement what can the government be held accountable for. for forcing individual to speak messages they disagree with. we are waiting the decision. so within a few hours we could get a ruling for lori and every americans right to free speech. host: those decisions usually come out around 10:00 a.m.. we had carl charles on previously and he had some thoughts on the alliance. considering how he described it is the alliance and lgbtq rights? guest: we are focused on protecting the rights of all americans in cases like lorries and others people who have their

own beliefs about certain issues. if the government can tell lori what to say or speak they can do that for anyone. we have seen lgbtq individual stand with our clients because they recognize that a government that can punish our clients can punish them. when we fight these battles for religious freedoms we want to make sure all americans are protected. host: what is religious freedom? guest: the freedom to live within the confines of their religious beliefs. it can be a deeply held sense of conviction. maybe they can't attach themselves to a church but that is why the supreme court has

said that people are free to live and work consistent with their religious beliefs and that means the government can't come in and for someone to violate those beliefs. they can't punish people for those beliefs. that is why we see individuals lose their job because their religious convictions about what days of the week are holy that they may or may not be able to work. host: talking about matt sharp with alliance defending freedom the phone lines as usual for democrats (202) 748-8000, for reans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002, and those who identify as lgbtq (202) 748-8003. you said alliance is not anti-l rights. the human rights campaign released a state of emergency statement earlier this month

saying that lgbtq americans are in a state of emergency and they reference the alliance in their statement. a coalition of groups including heritage foundation, family policy alliance, alliance defending freedom drafted legislation and recruited legislator to push -- they use junk science and fear mongering attacks against lgbtq to peddle their policies and try to justify discrimination in the name of religious belief. guest: my first response would be look at the type of cases we are working on. we are defending free speech rights, we are defending children. dealing with those puberty blockers is because of the growing body of evidence of the damage that these procedures do to young children. it is the reason why the u.k.,

sweden, finland are looking at the science, following children being put on puberty blockers and they are seeing is one sweden study showed there are 20 times higher rates of suicide. they saw a real lack of concrete benefits and choosing to prioritize counseling and psychotherapy. that is what the states are trying to do is follow that science and for children and our states we don't want them to be put down this path towards harmful medicalization. we don't want them to be put on things that may not be reversible. there are surgeries that have lifelong irreversible consequences. that is why alliance defending freedom is helping draw flaws that are sound and healthy states protect vulnerable children from these procedures. host: this is scary out of

central veg village -- central village, connecticut. caller: given the amount of time you're devoting to this we could profit from some much needed context. what percentage of the american population is gay? what percentage is transgender? thank you for taking my call. guest: i don't have the statistics. i have heard anything from 1-2%. and as adolescence identifying as lgbtq seven-9%. we know adolescence go through a lot of phases of questioning a confusion that we want to give them counseling. we want to help these children going through these challenges

and what we want to avoid is things that have consequences. when we talk about puberty blockers, the fda released a warning about potential side effects of puberty blockers in adolescence. they have never been proven safe and effective for gender dysphoria. it is used for precocious puberty to help a child go through puberty at a normal time. that is why a lot of these other countries and even a growing number of doctors are raising concerns about the harms that they are doing and say let's children be children. let's give them the counseling may need but not medicalize them and put them on these irreversible drugs. host: the gallup organization put a report out to this question, what percentage of americans are lgbtq?

they're finding a 7.2% is what they put out from that report from the fall of last year. this is don and des moines, iowa. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have freedom. i was born a man. that was not a choice, that's a fact. pride is a choice. love is a fact. the bible goes by the heart. people need to read the bible and find out what they are. if they are man, woman or something in between. that is all i have to say. host: that is don and iowa, anything you want to pick up on? guest: he is expressing his religious beliefs and there are people who share that and people

who have different beliefs. what we are trying to do was ensure every american regardless of their beliefs, regardless of their religious background has the same freedom to speak their views without fear of government punishment and live consistent with those views and beliefs. that includes teachers losing their jobs because they don't want to be forced to affirm gender ideology or light appearance about their child struggle with gender dysphoria. we want to make sure that every american has the right to live according to their beliefs. host: the hill focusing on transgender americans, 1.6% is the number they cite from the university of california from 2022. those are the number to the caller who asked. this is janet from louisiana. caller: hello? host: go ahead janice.

caller: don't try to change a male child into a female or a female child or to a male. when they get older, they will find their own group and an effeminate male is ok and a male-female is ok. everybody is different and they go through different stages. it shouldn't affect the places that they work, vote and care for others. respecting care is what jesus taught for everyone passing by. i am a social capitalist but this isn't a choice so i consider myself another and i appreciate talking to you. guest: i know louisiana is one of the states looking in efforts

to protect children. to allow them to have a natural childhood and that is what is motivating these legislators. they see a lot of these children that may not conform. it could be a young boy that's more effeminate and a young woman that is more masculine and rather than let them be who they are and develop naturally, go through puberty naturally there is this push to medicalize them and you need to be on sex hormones and we hear more and more stories of young men and women, individuals who are pushed to words that impress her to undergo medicalization that are now saying that my body has been damaged. young women had double mastectomies he will never be able to nurse their own child and they are speaking out and sounding the alarm because they don't want any other child to be coerced into what they went through. they recognize the best thing we could do is give them

counseling, love, time to work through this. we know from study after study anywhere between 80-90 percent of children if you allow them to go through puberty and give them counseling a lot of this will resolve on its own and they will find comfort in their own bodies. the moment you put them on puberty blockers you are pushing the children to go on wrong sex hormones that have irreversible consequences and that's why they are trying to protect these children from these procedures. host: i'm want to come back to laurie smith. a question from michael thorton on twitter asking, cannot block business owners refused to provide services because they are white or vice versa? can a jew or muslim refused to serve a christian?

i would like to know the answers. guest: lori serves everybody regardless of their identity and background. we are focused on beliefs. it is not about the who it is the message that she is being asked to express. should a democrat website designer be forced to design a website for ron desantis? if they disagree with the message then the constitution protects their right to decline to do so. this is not about declining to serve a person but rather a message. the government should never force any american to support a message that conflicts with their beliefs about a variety of topics. they should never have the power to force any of us to say or do things that violate our deeply held beliefs. host: on the line for those who identify as as lgbtq. guest: hi matt and john.

where is matt getting some of the sourcing from because of someone who does identify as lgbtq and does have some knowledge and experience in this area this does not align with our experience and less than 1% that go through any sort of transition experience d transition. we are talking about 1% of 2% and making state laws to help that very small bracket of people rather than making state laws that protect the actual majority of lgbtq rights in this country. guest: we are looking at the studies coming out of the u.k.,

sweden and these other countries. there was one from dr. cass, the cast review looking at the scientifically rigorous evidence about the benefits of puberty blockers when it comes to treating gender dysphoria. he found that it is unknown, we don't know the consequences of those. there is growing evidence about some real serious long-term consequences including increased suicide rates. that is what we are looking at and a lot of the lawmakers are looking at. these countries that have been doing these procedures for years and pulling back because it is not producing the help promise. what they are seeing as it's the psychotherapy and dealing with other mental health issues. there has been a growing discussion between gender dysphoria and autism.

we need to prioritize treating those issues because quite often when you treat those and get them medically appropriate care for autism or borderline personality disorder the gender dysphoria resolves and we can focus on the counseling and not the medicalization of children. host: let me come to another issue in the medical information behind it. mutilation of minors is a term we have heard this morning. our previous guess saying it is a scare tactic. genital surgery is not recommended until after someone turns 18. your thoughts on that? guest: that is simply false. the u.s. department of health and human services released a document talking about various puberty blockers of what they said is that when it comes to

gender affirming surgeries, top surgery, bottom surgery, typically used in adulthood or case by case and adolescence. we know from the test of fires, those who have been speaking out the dead have some of the surgeries that this is happening and that is why the states are taking these steps saying we don't want this happening in our state. we have a duty to protect children, protect them from medicalization from things that show no benefits >> house speaker kevin mccarthy is in orange county , california. speaker mccarthy. >> first of all thank you for

the services you provide. i'm here today not because the fbi give me the numbers not because of online security. we have a certain place for two countries that we have a background check which i do know of a criminal. right now children are not allowed. we give power to our secretary of state and our secretary. a number of those people are coming to america. they have cut off wi-fi, so your security doesn't work they don't enter the front door they go directly into the second-story

and now they are tied with this south american sector with china. dropping millions of dollars i want to make sure that secondly for those who serve in congress that we take action. that the secretary of homeland security will not take action. they cut off funding for these programs. the secretary giving reports and of that has risen to their level of reports know i have called and talked to the chairman of judiciary. my office is supposed to be testifying about it in july. we're going to have a number of hearings but also hold the

secretary accountable for lack of action that is harming a number of victims in america. chicago, florida, and individuals are by themselves. homeland security knows. that is why we have a number of members here. all serving under the committee. china is requiring. [indiscernible] >> thank you very much, mr.

speaker. they give for joining us we are going to have our briefing. between october 2018 and march 2019 identified 35 residents. entry through the rear sometimes the upstairs. and march of 2019 we arrested internationals committing a residential burglary. confirmed -- all the way back to the property. they went to the rear of the houses and started surveilling the houses. sometimes in the bedrooms and

leave the area. we were also able to determine these groups at a getaway driver also had a lookout in case the victim him home or in case law enforcement came into the area. we've also seen them cutting holes in rooftops and breaking into jewelry stores. we've seen pickpockets, stolen credit card use, and [indiscernible] their nationality typically has nothing to do with their immigration status. quick spec the speakers question i know our counties we don't

know criminals are coming in that we have logistics. not just residential houses, not just stores and others. >> real quick, --

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